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Mixing and differentiation in the Oruanui rhyolitic magma, Taupo, New Zealand: evidence from volatiles and trace elements in melt inclusions

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Abstract

Large pyroclastic rhyolites are snapshots of evolving magma bodies, and preserved in their eruptive pyroclasts is a record of evolution up to the time of eruption. Here we focus on the conditions and processes in the Oruanui magma that erupted at 26.5 ka from Taupo Volcano, New Zealand. The 530 km3 (void-free) of material erupted in the Oruanui event is comparable in size to the Bishop Tuff in California, but differs in that rhyolitic pumice and glass compositions, although variable, did not change systematically with eruption order. We measured the concentrations of H2O, CO2 and major and trace elements in zoned phenocrysts and melt inclusions from individual pumice clasts covering the range from early to late erupted units. We also used cathodoluminescence imaging to infer growth histories of quartz phenocrysts. For quartz-hosted inclusions, we studied both fully enclosed melt inclusions and reentrants (connecting to host melt through a small opening). The textures and compositions of inclusions and phenocrysts reflect complex pre-eruptive processes of incomplete assimilation/partial melting, crystallization differentiation, magma mixing and gas saturation. ‘Restitic’ quartz occurs in seven of eight pumice clasts studied. Variations in dissolved H2O and CO2 in quartz-hosted melt inclusions reflect gas saturation in the Oruanui magma and crystallization depths of ∼3.5–7 km. Based on variations of dissolved H2O and CO2 in reentrants, the amount of exsolved gas at the beginning of eruption increased with depth, corresponding to decreasing density with depth. Pre-eruptive mixing of magma with varying gas content implies variations in magma bulk density that would have driven convective mixing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by US NSF grants EAR 0106327 and 0408707, Marsden Fund grant GNS 202 from the Royal Society of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science & Technology. Thorough and thoughtful reviews by Tom Vogel, Tim Grove, and Charlie Bacon are appreciated. We also thank Youxue Zhang for his generosity in allowing us access to the FTIR spectrometer at the University of Michigan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Yang Liu, Alfred T. Anderson & Ian M. Steele

  2. Department of Geology, University of Auckland, Private Bag, 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Colin J. N. Wilson

  3. Department of Geophysical Sciences, Enrico Fermi Institute, and Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Andrew M. Davis

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Yang Liu

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  1. Yang Liu
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  2. Alfred T. Anderson
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  3. Colin J. N. Wilson
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  5. Ian M. Steele
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Correspondence to Yang Liu.

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Communicated by: T. L. Grove

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Liu, Y., Anderson, A.T., Wilson, C.J.N. et al. Mixing and differentiation in the Oruanui rhyolitic magma, Taupo, New Zealand: evidence from volatiles and trace elements in melt inclusions. Contrib Mineral Petrol 151, 71–87 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-005-0046-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-005-0046-3

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